10 gigametres

Click on the thumbnail image to jump to the desired order of length magnitude: top-left is 1e6m, lower-right is 1e17m. (Image description)

Rigel and Aldebaran (top left and right) compared to smaller stars, the Sun (very small dot in lower middle, with orbit of mercury as yellow ellipse) and transparent sphere with radius of one light minute: click image for larger view and links to other scales.

To help compare different distances this page lists lengths starting at 10¹⁰ metres (10 gigametres (Gm) or 10 million kilometres, or 0.07 Astronomical units).

Distances shorter than 10¹⁰ metres

• 15 Gm — Closest distance of Comet Hyakutake from Earth
• 18 Gm — One light-minute (see yellow sphere in right-hand diagram)
• 24 Gm — Radius of a heliostationary orbit
• 46 Gm — Perihelion distance of Mercury (yellow ellipse on the right)
• 55 Gm — 60,000-year perigee of Mars (last achieved on August 27, 2003)
• 58 Gm — Average passing distance between Earth and Mars at the moment they overtake each other in their orbits
• 61 Gm^[1][2] — Diameter of Aldebaran, an orange giant star (large star on right)
• 70 Gm — Aphelion distance of Mercury
• 76 Gm — Neso's apocentric distance; greatest distance of a natural satellite from its parent planet (Neptune)
• 86 Gm^[3] — Diameter of Rigel, a blue supergiant star (largest star on right)

Distances longer than 10¹¹ metres

References

1. Richichi, A.; Roccatagliata, V. Aldebaran's angular diameter: How well do we know it?. Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 433, Issue 1, April I 2005, pp.305-312. "We derive an average value of 19.96±0.03 milliarcsec for the uniform disk diameter. The corresponding limb-darkened value is 20.58±0.03 milliarcsec, or 44.2±0.9 Rȯ."
2. Richichi, A. and Roccatagliata, V. derived an angular diameter of 20.58±0.03 milliarcsec, which given a distance of 65 light years yields a diameter of 61 million km
3. "Big and Giant Stars: Rigel". Internetservice Kummer + Oster GbR. Archived from the original on 26 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-26. Diameter: 62 * Sun